Past Winners of HSRAANZ Awards and Prizes

HSRAANZ Professional Award

2017 Award Winners

2017 HSRAANZ Award Winners

HSRAANZ Distinguished Investigator Awards

The HSRAANZ Distinguished Investigator Awards recognize researchers who have made a significant contribution to the field of health services and health policy research in Australia and New Zealand through scholarship and teaching, advancement of science and methods, and leadership (relative to level of award).

Life Time Achievement - Professor Libby Roughead

Professor Libby Roughead, Research ProfessorSchool of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, University of South Australia has developed a strong research agenda through her leadership of the Quality Use of Medicines and Pharmacy Research Centre (QUMPRC). Appointed Director in 2011, she currently leads a multidisciplinary team of 26 research and support staff and eight PhD students. With more than 200 research papers assessing harms associated with medicine used and over $50m in research funding, Libby has established an exceptional record of research translation into both policy and practice. Her translation successes are due largely to working directly with policy makers and government.

Libby’s impact on policy and practice is extensive. Her research on medication safety has underpinned Australia’s health goals and targets and the current work plan in medication safety for the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC). Her 2015 report on medication safety in mental health is being used by ACSQHC to develop a work program in this area. Her research quantifying the extent of treatment conflicts in people with multimorbidity led Therapeutic Guidelines Ltd to develop a work plan for inclusion of multimorbidity in Australia’s national guidelines. Her research on interventions for improving use of medicines supported funding of home medicine reviews in Australia and provided the model for the sustained implementation of the Veterans’ Medicines Advice and Therapeutics Education Services (MATES) project, provided by the Australian Government Department of Veterans’ Affairs. The Veterans’ MATES program, which was re-funded in 2016, has implemented over 40 interventions, targeted every general practitioner, pharmacy, aged-care facility and veteran in Australia and resulted in measureable improvements in veteran health and net cost savings.

Libby has made a significant contribution to the profession of health services research through her active engagement on national committees, such as Australia’s Drug Utilisation Subcommittee (member since 2001) and her board membership of Therapeutic Guidelines Ltd, a national body providing guidelines for Australian health professionals.

Libby has supervised 7 PhD students to completion, has 4 current PhD students and has hosted extended visits by 8 international researchers during the last five years. Libby has a successful track record in identifying, recruiting, training and mentoring early career post-doctoral fellows who have been identified by her as having capacity for independent research and future leadership roles.

Libby leads The Medicine and Device Surveillance CRE a collaboration multi-national collaboration between UniSA, University of Adelaide, Flinders University, University of Western Australia, Royal Adelaide Hospital and the National Prescribing Service, Harvard Medical School USA, University of Tokyo Japan, Seoul National University Korea, and the National Cheng Kung University Taiwan which has resulted in 47 publications and the development of the Asian Pharmacoepidemiology Network (AsPEN).

Unfortunately Libby was unable to attend the HSRAANZ Conference to accept her award but our President Jon Karnon caught up with Libby in Adelaide to discuss her research career and present her award.

Professor Wheeler has worked as a health practitioner, educator and researcher in mental health and pharmacy practice for almost 20 years. After establishing a highly successful research centre in a public health service in NZ that she directed for over 10 years, Amanda was awarded her PhD in 2009. Despite a late start to a publishing career, Amanda has made a significant contribution to health services & health policy research, with a key focus on reducing the burden of disease and treatment burden for people experiencing mental illness, and the delivery of person-centred care in the community pharmacy setting. She is nationally and internationally recognised for her expertise in these areas.

Since 2004, Amanda has obtained four competitive national research grants totalling almost $4.5 million, published over 115 peer-reviewed papers (31 as first author, 5 solo-authored), 30 published abstracts/letters and delivered oral presentations at more than 35 conferences and meetings. Thirty-three publications to date have emanated from two Federal Department of Health grants, of which she was lead investigator. Amanda’s publications are well cited (900 citations) with an h-index of 20. Significant outcomes from her research work leading to practice changes include: development and validation of a consumer outcome tool that has been incorporated by the NZ Ministry of Health as part of the national suite of outcome measures in mental health services; development and implementation of best-practice guidelines for the use of the antipsychotic clozapine which were recommended by NZ Coronial Services in 2010 to be made available nationally; developed and implemented an audit and feedback cycle for antipsychotic use in schizophrenia that led to sustained, evidence-based changes in prescribing practice; developed and evaluated an on-line mental health continuing education programme for more than 600 Australian community pharmacy staff. In 2013 she was awarded a Griffith Health Excellence Award for outstanding research success
and work in the area of mental health and addictions.

Amanda provides a significant amount of time and effort to mentor students through the research journey. She has supervised 2 PhD and 2 MPhil graduates and is currently the convenor of the Higher Degree Research Program at the School of Human Services and Social Work at Griffith University. Amanda’s leadership skills have been recognised by fellowships with the UK College of Mental Health Pharmacy and the European Society for Person Centred Healthcare, appointments to the Advisory Committee on Medicines Scheduling for the Australian TGA, as Chair of the Clinical Pharmacy Group of the European Society for Person Centred Healthcare, and journal Editorial Board membership (The Patient and Journal of Pharmaceutical Policy and Practice). Her dedication to all facets of health services research makes Amanda a worthy recipient of such a prestigious award.

Bio: Jing Jing He is a research nurse at Macquarie University Hospital and a PhD candidate at the University of Sydney. Jing graduated with First Class Honours in Nursing from the University of Sydney. As a nurse, Jing has worked in various specialties include day surgery, cardiology, community nursing and clinical trials. In 2014, she was appointed by Macquarie University Hospital as the research coordinator for the Pre-Admission Clinic Project (funded by the HCF Research Foundation). She has successfully led the project and implemented a triage system and discharge pathway for elective surgery patients. Jing has a particular interest in clinical health innovations and using advanced technologies to improve patient outcome and practice efficiency. Her PhD study focuses on the impact of chemotherapy-induced alopecia and a scalp cooling device on adult oncology patients.

Jing Jing He receiving her award from HSRAANZ VPLaura Wilkinson-Meyers

Abstract

Aims: To redesign, implement and evaluate a Pre-Admission Clinic incorporated with a Transfer of Care Pathway for elective surgery patients.

Methods: An evidence-based approach was used to redesign the Pre-Admission Clinic and the Transfer of Care Pathway. The impact of the pre-admission clinic and the care pathway was evaluated. De-identified data containing patient outcomes was collected from the hospital electronic medical record system from May 2014 to March 2015. Outcome measures included surgical cancellations, last-minute can-cellations, average length of stay, discharge delays, and adverse events that were compared pre and post-implementation. Patient satisfaction was measured pre and post-implementation by using a mod-ified version of Best Practice hospital survey.

Results: A total of 10,854 eligible cases were included (5716 in the pre-implementation period and 5138 in the post-implementation period). The overall cancellation rate remained relatively stable (p = 0.95), however, the last-minute cancellation rate was reduced post-implementation (p = 0.02). Although no difference was observed in average length of stay (p = 0.39), the percentage of discharge delays was reduced (p = 0.027). The incidence of adverse events was too low to draw statistical conclusion. A sample of 102 patients completed the patient satisfaction survey. The overall satisfaction improved post-implementation (p = 0.03).

Conclusions: The evidence-based Pre-Admission Clinic and the Transfer of Care Pathway had a positive impact on last-minute surgical cancellations, discharge delays and patient satisfaction.

Bio: Following a background working in the health sector in both the United Kingdom and New Zealand, Erin recently completed a PhD in public health at the University of Otago. She is currently a Research Fellow in the Dean’s Office in the Otago Business School where her research focuses on health funding, policy and systems.

Abstract

This paper examines spending on external consultancies in each of New Zealand’s 20 District Health Boards (DHB). Using evidence obtained from DHBs, it provides an insight into the cost and activities of consultants within the New Zealand health sector, the policies behind their engagement and the processes in place to ensure value for money. It finds that DHB spending on external consultants is substantial, at $NZ10–60 million annually. However, few DHBs had policies governing when consultants should be engaged and many were unable to easily identify the extent or purpose of consultancies within their organisation, making it difficult to derive an accurate picture of consultant activity throughout the DHB sector. Policies surrounding value for money were uncommon and, where present, were rarely applied. Given the large sums being spent by New Zealand’s DHBs, and assuming expenditure is similar in othe r health systems, the findings point to the need for greater accountability for expenditure and better evidence of value for money of consultancies within publicly funded health systems.

Bio: Priya is an occupational therapist who has worked in a number of clinical, teaching, training and research roles in Australia and overseas. She currently works as a research officer with the Queensland Rural Generalist Pathway in Toowoomba, Queensland. She is also a PhD candidate with the University of South Australia. Her PhD research investigates the factors that contribute to high quality clinical supervision in allied health. She has expertise in interprofessional education, health professional education and training, curriculum development, mixed methods research designs and rural and remote workforce issues. She is increasingly being recognised as an international leader in the research and practice of clinical supervision.

Abstract

Background/aim: Clinical supervision is important for effective health service delivery, professional development and practice. Despite its importance there is a lack of evidence regarding the factors that improve its quality. This study aimed to investigate the factors that inﬂuence the quality of linical supervision of occupational therapists employed in a large public sector health service covering mental health, paediatrics, adult physical and other practice areas.

Methods: A mixed method, sequential explanatory study design was used consisting of two phases. This article reports the quantitative phase (Phase One) which involved administration of the Manchester Clinical Supervision Scale (MCSS-26) to 207 occupational therapists.

Results: Frequency of supervision sessions, choice of super- visor and the type of supervision were found to be the predictor variables with a positive and signiﬁcant inﬂuence on the quality of clinical supervision. Factors such as age, length of supervision and the area of practice were found to be the predictor variables with a negative and signiﬁcant inﬂuence on the quality of clinical supervision.

Conclusion: Factors that inﬂuence the perceived quality of clinical supervision among occupational therapists have been identiﬁed. High quality clinical supervision is an important component of clinical governance and has been shown to be beneﬁcial to practitioners, patients and the organisation. Information on factors that make clinical supervision effective identiﬁed in this study can be added to existing supervision training and practices to improve the quality of clinical supervision.

We will be featuring more on our winning papers and authors over the next few weeks.

Best Abstracts a HSR17

As part of the peer review process for the Conference the scientific committee identified the highest ranked abstract overall and from an emerging researcher.

Abstract
Background: Demand for colonoscopy services is placing significant pressure on health resources in Australia with over 700,000 procedures annually and costing over $1.1 billion. Current triaging processes do not effectively discriminate patients who will or will not show significant bowl disease (SBD). A new risk assessment tool may improve system efficiency and enhance patient care.

Methods: We constructed a hybrid discrete event/agent-based model in AnyLogic software to simulate the GP-referral patterns, triaging, appointment booking, waiting times and costs for colonoscopies at the Royal Brisbane and Womens’ Hospital (RBWH). Using data from a cohort study of 466 GP-referred patients with lower abdominal symptoms, we utilised a newly designed clinical risk assessment tool (RAT) to model the current inefficiency in treatment urgency categorisation. The RAT had a specificity of 98%, showing its appropriateness for use as a rule-in test. We examined the RAT’s effect on waiting times and costs through simulation modelling at the hospital system
level.

Results: Approximately 2,200 patients referred to the colonoscopy clinic at the RBWH are treated each year. The RAT improved triaging for 9% of moderate urgent and 4% of least urgent patients. Over a year approximately 89 patients with SBD could receive more timely care. Moderately urgent patients with SBD received care 121 days earlier, while least urgent patients received care 114 days earlier.

Best Abstract from an Early Career Researcher - Grace Kyoon-Achan University of Manitoba

Journeys to healthcare transformation: Partnering for change through Community based Participatory Research with Manitoba First Nations
Grace Kyoon-Achan1, Josée G. Lavoie1, Kathi Avery Kinew2, Stephanie Sinclair2
1University of Manitoba; 2First Nations Health and Social Secretariat of Manitoba

Grace Kyoon-Achan

Abstract

Background: Community-based participatory research can help support communities’ efforts in the formulation and implementation of innovative and transformative change. We share a collaborative journey in our work with eight (8) First Nations in Manitoba Canada who were seeking to improve the health of their communities. Participating communities wanted to produce evidence to move toward good health as they define it and to inform changes in healthcare based on community input on how to improve the health of their respective communities.

Methods: Indigenous knowledges and processes guided data gathering and analysis. Community based participatory methods were used for the conceptualization of the study, data collection, analyses and knowledge translation. A variety of methods were used including: qualitative interviews, administrative health data analyses, surveys and case studies depending on the needs of the studies and the interests of different First Nation stakeholders, health directors and researchers.

Results: Research relationships built upon strong ethics and locally recognized protocols enhance mutual commitment to support community-driven transformation. Collaborative and respectful relationships are platforms for defining and strengthening First Nations health and healthcare priorities. This is an important step in building long term changes that will be sustained long after research projects come to an end.

Conclusion: This study yielded a blueprint for respectful community-based participatory research
involving First Nations peoples, communities, University-based researchers and First Nations
community-based researchers. The result is a locally owned yet widely recognized process that is
effective and sustainable while also having fulfilled researchers and funding obligations.

Background: New Zealand’s Shorter Stays in Emergency Departments target was implemented from 2009 to address ED crowding. The target required 95% of patients to be seen, treated or discharged within six hours. ‘Gaming’ is commonly regarded as an undesirable side-effect of using targets to drive health service improvement.

Aims: Our research sought to identify the presence and extent of gaming after the target’s implementation, and explain variation in gaming across four case-study sites.

Methods: We adopted a mixed-methods approach. To track the extent of gaming, ED utilisation data was collected from four case study hospitals from 2007 (two years pre-target) to 2012. Rates of pretarget ‘spikes’ and ‘digit preference bias’ were derived from this data. We conducted 68 semistructured interviews about target implementation with ED and hospital clinicians and managers in 2011 and 2012.

Results: Significant ‘spikes’ of the proportion of ED discharges for the time interval immediately prior to the six hour target appeared in all sites after the target’s introduction. At all sites, patients were taken off the target stream (eg moved to short-stay units) to avoid target breaches. However, lower levels of gaming were associated with sites that adopted a ‘whole-of-hospital’ approach to target implementation. Gaming was more prevalent where implementation focused solely on ED staff and processes, without additional resources.

Conclusion: While gaming occurred in all sites, our research demonstrates that a myopic focus on avoiding target breaches within ED accentuates gaming, whereas more holistic approaches to target implementation and additional resources help to reduce it.

Three Minute Thesis Competition

The Three Minute Thesis Competition was one of the highlights of the 10th Health Services and Policy Research Conference. Entrants had 3 minutes to present their work with the assistance of a single power point slide.

2016 Award Winners

This year we introduced a number of new awards to recognise individuals and projects which have made significant contributions to the fields of health services research and health policy in Australia and New Zealand.
Three competitions were held this year:
The HSR Impact Award
The Best HSR Paper of the Year
The Best PhD Student of the Year

The HSR Impact Award

This new award recognises health services research that has had a significant impact on health and health care. The award is intended to identify and promote examples of outstanding research that has been successfully translated into health policy, management, or clinical practice.

The standard of the nominated projects was extremely high and the judges had a very difficult task picking a winner. The nominated projects were presented at the HSRAANZ Symposium as examples of the real world impact on health services research.

A/Prof Ian Scott and his team with their work - “Maximising value of healthcare”.

Dr Ian Scott collecting his award

A/Prof Ian Scott has been the lead clinician and investigator for several major programs aimed at maximising value of healthcare that have attracted national and international interest. These include:

•Improving access to emergency care within hospital practice – large scale tertiary hospital reform program which raised NEAT 4-hour compliance rates from 32% to 62% over 9 months (P < 0.001) in association with reduced in-hospital mortality (from 2.3% to 1.7%; P = 0.04). Many of these reforms have been implemented in other hospitals and have been presented to several health service conferences.

• Lead clinician in collaboration producing systematic review of evidence for 4-hour rule targets indicating all targets were arbitrary. Subsequent investigation of datasets from 59 Australian hospitals which found that adjusted in-hospital mortality for emergency admissions falls as 4-hour NEAT compliance rates rise to a nadir of 83%, with no further increase thereafter. This was an international first in presenting an evidence-based target of around 80% which Queensland Health adopted, with other jurisdictions considering similar moves, and researchers in the UK and New Zealand aiming to replicate in their jurisdictions.
• Design and implementation of an integrated end of life care (EoL) program which incorporates advanced care planning (ACP) for patients with limited prognosis and which involves all hospitals, RACFs and general practices in Metro South (MS) Hospital and Health Service (HHS). More than 2600 patients have completed ACP in the last 2 years, and our methodology has been adopted by another 12 HHS and several other primary health networks. This work has been recognised by Queensland Health Minister at recent COAG meeting.
• Publication of a sentinel paper in Australian Health Review in 2015 which articulated 10 clinician-led strategies for maximising value in healthcare, with particular focus on hospital care, which featured prominently in a Productivity Commission report later that year and presented to health departments, professional colleges and the Australian Medical Association. Research has investigated cognitive biases in clinician decision-making that

RUNNERS UP:

Prof William Parsonage and his team for “The Statewide Accelerated Chest Pain Risk Evaluation (ACRE) Project”

Dr Will Parsonage

The Accelerated Chest Pain Risk Evaluation (ACRE) Project is a structured program of clinical redesign which has rapidly translated research into clinical practice. The project aimed to improve the assessment patients presenting to emergency departments (EDs) with chest pain and to evaluate the health service outcomes of the change in practice. The project was based on high-quality clinical evidence from locally-derived, widely cited research published in 2012 (The ADAPT trial).

The Accelerated Chest pain Risk Evaluation (ACRE) Project is a structured program of clinical redesign which has rapidly translated research into clinical practice. The project aimed to improve the assessment patients presenting to emergency departments (EDs) with chest pain and to evaluate the health service outcomes of the change in practice. The project was based on high-quality clinical evidence from locally-derived, widely cited research published in 2012 (The ADAPT trial).

A pilot study at a single site in Queensland was undertaken in 2013 followed by state-wide implementation in all eligible hospitals over a 2-year period from 2014 to 2016.

Pooled data from 12 months pre-implementation and up to 16 months post-implementation has demonstrated significantly decreased ED length of stay, hospital admission rates to inpatient units and total hospital length of stay. For all patients presenting with possible cardiac chest pain median total hospital LOS fell from 1210mins to 806mins (404mins 95% CI 370-437mins). Hospital admissions fell from 70.4% to 57.3% (-13.1% 95% CI 12.3 - 13.9%). From May 2014 to the end of April 2016 51,042 patients have presented to the ED’s across the 18 sites with possible cardiac chest pain. Of these, 12,138 (24%) have been managed on the ADAPT-ADP.

This research has resulted in substantial released capacity with economic impact evaluation suggesting savings of more than $7.5 million per year across the state.

A program of applied health services research in collaboration with National and State agencies to understand how routine data can be used in clinical oversight and funding. This work has informed Australian policy development, including:

• National agreements to use pricing signals to motivate quality improvement, and to collect additional data elements in the hospital minimum dataset to identify condition-onset for hospital acquired diagnoses,
• Demonstrations of alternative ways of using activity-based pricing mechanisms to improve quality and safety of hospital care,
• Estimates of State-specific and national incremental costs of harmful hospital-acquired diagnoses,
• Development of data algorithms to group hospital-acquired diagnoses for use in quality improvement (CHADx and CHADx+), and to identify coding errors in condition onset flagging,

Adj A/ Prof Terri Jackson

• Reporting of CHADx rates in the annual Australian Hospital Statistics
• Testing the use of routine data to report nationally-mandated sentinel events,
• Applied studies with clinical colleagues of the risks and outcomes of hospital-acquired diagnoses in various patient subpopulations, including elective surgical patients, cancer patients, cardiac surgery patients, inpatients older than 65, spinal injury patients, patients with pre-existing diabetes and kidney failure, and neonates,
• Studies to investigate methods of using data on multiple emergency department presentations to predict delayed or missed diagnoses, using linked data to identify readmissions attributable to a hospital-acquired diagnosis in a previous admission, and data mining techniques to measure the extent to which hospital-acquired diagnoses are associated with the patient’s reason for admission.

The Best HSR Paper of the Year

This year we also called for nominations from our membership for the best HSR Papers. This award recognises the best scientific works in the of field health services and policy research. We received 12 eclectic nominations, (details here) which illustrate the range of HSR being undertaken in Australia and New Zealand. The judges were impressed by the quality and range of the work submitted and as a result they made awards in four categories:

The Best Quantitative Paper was awarded to Andrew Partington and his collaborators for their paper “Screening for Important Unwarranted Variation in Clinical Practice: A Triple-Test of Processes of Care, Costs and Patient Outcomes”http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/AH15101.h

Andrew Partington, is Principal Project Officer, Activity Modelling and Purchasing, System Performance and Service Delivery, SA Health. Having worked as a Research Associate within the Adelaide Health Economics Group at the University of Adelaide, Andrew has spent the last couple of years as a strategy consultant within the UK National Health Service. Most recently, he joined the South Australian Department for Health & Ageing where he helps to lead state-wide commissioning initiatives.

While his research focus includes unwarranted variations and health state valuation, Andrew is most interested in improving the way health economics is used to engage diverse decision-makers in service quality and financial sustainability initiatives.

Andrew Partington

The Best Qualitative Paper was awarded to Lindy Willmott and her collaborators for their paper “Reasons doctors provide futile treatment at the end of life: a qualitative study”.

Lindy is a Professor with the Faculty of Law at the QUT and a Director of the Australian Centre for Health Law Research at QUT. She researches in the area of health law, particularly end-of-life issues and is currently undertaking a number of empirical research projects funded by the ARC. She is also a Chief Investigator in a NHMRC funded Centre of Research Excellence on End of Life.

Lindy is also the author of many books across various fields of law and is one of the editors of the book ‘Health Law in Australia’. She is a former member of the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal and the Queensland Law Reform Commission.

Ben graduated with first class Honours and a University Medal in Law from QUT and then completed a DPhil at Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship. Before joining the Law Faculty, he worked as an associate at the Supreme Court and at Legal Aid Queensland. Between 2005 and 2007, Ben was appointed as the full-time Commissioner of the Queensland Law Reform Commission where he had carriage of the Guardianship Review on behalf of the Commission. He also served as a part-time Commissioner between 2007 and 2010.

Ben’s area of research focus is end of life decision-making and he is undertaking a number of Australian Research Council funded studies examining law at the end of life. He is currently a committee member of the Australasian Association of Bioethics and Health Law and an editor of ‘Health Law in Australia’

The Best Paper by an Early Career Researcher was won by Emily Karanges and her collaborators for their paper “Twenty-five years of prescription opioid use in Australia: a whole-of-population analysis using pharmaceutical claims”.

Dr Emily Karangesis a research fellow in the Medicines Policy Research Unit within the Centre for Big Data Research in Health. Her research focus concerns the pharmacoepidemiology of psychotropic medicine use. While her research extends to all age groups, Emily has a particular interest in the use of psychotropics in children, adolescents and young adults. She is also interested in the pharmacoepidemiology of opioid analgesics.

Emily also has expertise in the field of psychopharmacology. In 2015 she received her PhD in behavioural neuroscience, psychopharmacology and psycho-pharmacoepidemiology at the University of Sydney. Her thesis was primarily concerned with the behavioural and neurobiological effects of antidepressant treatment during adolescence.

The Best New Zealand Paper was awarded to Robin Gauld and Simon Horsburgh and their paper “Does a host country capture knowledge of migrant doctors and how might it? A study of UK doctors in New Zealand”.

Robin Gauld is Professor of Health Policy in the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, and Director of the Centre for Health Systems—that spans the School of Business and the Dunedin School of Medicine.

On 1 Dec 2016 he takes up a new role at the University of Otago as Pro-Vice-Chancellor Commerce and Dean of the School of Business.

Dr Simon Horsburg

Dr Simon Horsburgh is a senior lecturer in Epidemiology in the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine at the University of Otago.

Simon's primary research focus is pharmacoepidemiology, particularly in the area of using routinely-collected data to study medicines utilisation and access.

He has also collaborated with Professor Gauld to examine health workforce issues such as clinical leadership and workforce migration.

Dr Horsburgh is a founding member of the Pharmacoepidemiology Research Network, as well as an associate of the Centre for Health Systems. He serves as an associate editor for BMC Health Services Research.

Best PhD Student.

Our final award was for the Best PhD Student and recognizes up and coming health services researchers. The nominated papers were judged on the author’s ability to:

write clearly and concisely,

to present ideas and arguments logically,

to use appropriate, sound methods; and

to show how their results are relevant to policy and/or practice.

Details of all of the nominated papers can be viewed here. Once again the judges were impressed with the quality of all the nominated work which bodes well for future capacity in HSR.

Michael Falster is a Biostatistician and Research Fellow at the Centre for Big Data Research in Health (CBDRH) at UNSW Australia where he is also completing his PhD . Michael has over 10 years’ experience working in public health, biostatistics and epidemiological research, and is currently project coordinator on the Assessing Preventable Hospitalisation InDicators (APHID) Study, an NHMRC funded partnership grant using linked data to explore contributors to geographic variation in ‘preventable’ hospitalisations.

Elizabeth Whittaker from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, UNSW for her work “Associations of Housing First Configuration and Crime and Social Connectedness Among Persons with Chronic Homelessness Histories”.

Liz Whittaker is submitting her PhD this year, which has examined vulnerable homeless sub-groups and the impacts of Housing First configurations. Liz has worked on a number of homelessness and housing evaluations at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at UNSW Australia, where she also co-ordinated the Northern Territory Ecstasy and Related Drugs Reporting System (EDRS). Liz has recently secured a Senior Policy Officer role with NSW Government Family and Community Services designing the evaluation of the Out of Home Care reforms.

The projects nominated for the Best Impact Award were presented at the HSRAANZ Symposium.

We will be reporting in more detail on the other winning research on the HSRAANZ Blog, over the next couple of weeks.

HSRAANZ Professional Award

This Award was presented biennially from 2011 and 2015 and recognised an individual who had made an outstanding, life-time contribution to the development of health services research in Australia or New Zealand. The Award recognised the conduct of high quality health services research, translation into policy and practice, and activities to support other researchers, such as mentoring and contributing to the development of a supportive research environment.

These awards previously made at the Health Services and Policy Research Conference have been replaced by the Early Career Researchers 3 Minute Presentation Competition and the Best Abstract and Poster Prizes.